Learn To Be Lonely
by Ying-Fa-dono
Summary: Rumpelstiltskin/Belle oneshot-songfic. She'd started humming while she worked. She wondered if he noticed. He did.


**Ying-Fa: I heard this song the other day and thought of these two... Hope you enjoy!**

Belle hadn't known what to think when she first arrived at the Dark Castle with Rumpelstiltskin. She'd had all kinds of thoughts running through her head when he first showed her to her "room". What kind of master would he be? Was he the kind who would beat her if she did a poor job? Would he perhaps lust for her? All kinds of horrifying ideas had spun through her head in those first few hours spent in the dungeon when, suddenly, the door opened on its own. As she stepped out of the room, Belle noticed a tea tray sitting on the ground in front of her with a note that had directions back into the main hall.

"I guess he wants tea," Belle had said to herself as she picked up the tray and followed the directions on the note.

Belle had been even more terrified when she'd chipped that cup in front of him. She thought she'd get yelled at for sure, if not beaten. But his only reply had been, "Well, it's just a cup." Belle had relaxed. Perhaps this wasn't going to be as difficult as she'd originally thought.

Since then, Belle had been working diligently about the Dark Castle. The place was massive and there was no way she'd be able to clean the entire place in one day, so after some trial and error, Belle had thought up a kind of schedule. She'd clean the floors on one day, wash windows the next, dust the day after that, and so forth. This kept her busy but gave her time to keep up with any other tasks he might give her.

The thing about Rumpelstiltskin was that he was never around very much. He'd leave a lot and, though he never really told her where he was going, she knew he was off to make deals as he did with her father. When he was home, he mostly just sat at his spinning wheel and would spin straw into gold. He didn't really ask for much, he just left her to herself. But, as he'd done with the tea tray, he'd drop hints around the castle to let her know if there was anything he wanted right away.

After a while, Belle noticed that he stopped locking the door to her "room" at the end of the day. Belle had taken the opportunity to spend the evenings wandering about the castle as she liked. There was one room with a large fireplace and a lovely couch where she would take books and read and often fall asleep. She wondered if he knew, or even cared, that she was doing this. The first few nights she'd spent in the castle she'd been afraid to sleep for fear that he would come to her in the night. But he never did. He left her well alone to do as she was instructed. For this, Belle was grateful. She could have done considerably worse as far as masters go. For a feared, Dark being, he wasn't that bad.

One afternoon, Belle was dusting all the objects in the main hall while Rumpelstiltskin was spinning. The objects in this room made her particularly curious. The items on the pedestals were the gems of his collections, his most prized possessions. Some of the items made sense to Belle, like the ornate golden goblet and the sheep's fleece made of pure gold, but there were other objects that seemed completely unordinary like the two wooden puppets, a candlestick and a clock.

As she went about dusting and cleaning the objects, Belle caught herself humming as she worked. She'd started doing this awhile ago, once she'd gotten into her pattern of chores at the castle. When Rumpelstiltskin wasn't home, the place was eerily quiet and so Belle had started humming songs to herself to ease her mind and help her focus on her work.

Today, a curious and sad song came into her head as she worked and so she began humming the tune aloud. It wasn't one that she particularly liked, as the words were rather depressing, but it's soft and melancholy tune was rather soothing. The sound of her muffled voice mixed with the drone of the spinning wheel and putting her mind at ease. She hummed the mournful beginning and picked up at the chorus, the sad words of the song playing through her mind as she hummed.

_Child of the Wilderness_

_Born into emptiness_

_Learn to be lonely_

_Learn to find your way in darkness_

It was here that she noticed something strange. Something had changed in the room suddenly. It was too quiet. The wheel had stopped spinning. Belle stopped humming and strained her ears, wondering if Rumpelstiltskin had left the room without her noticing. But then the sound of the spinning wheel started up again as though it had never stopped. Belle relaxed and continued with her song.

_Who will be there for you?_

_Comfort and care for you?_

_Learn to be lonely_

_Learn to be your one companion_

It was too quiet again. The wheel had stopped. Belle froze once again before slowly turning her head to look at Rumpelstiltskin, but the moment she did, the wheel had started up again. He was still there, spinning away, but Belle had the most curious feeling that his eyes had been on her only a moment before she'd looked around. An odd thought suddenly occurred to her. _Is he…listening to me? Is he stopping the wheel so that he can hear me?_ This thought made Belle carry on with her song as though nothing had happened.

_Never dream, out in the world_

_There are arms to hold you_

_You've always known_

_Your heart is on its own_

There was no mistaking it. The wheel had stopped yet again and she could feel his wide, golden eyes upon her back. Belle didn't turn around to meet his gaze. Instead, she stayed focused on fixing the skirt on the female puppet's dress as she continued.

_So laugh in your loneliness_

_Child of the wilderness_

_Learn to be lonely_

_Learn how to love_

_Life that is lived alone_

She neared the end of the song and could hear him suddenly start to spin again, clearly hoping she hadn't noticed that he'd stopped at all. She let him think whatever he liked. Belle smiled to herself and glanced around the room. Those curtains are always closed, she observed. Perhaps she ought to open them up….

/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

After she was gone, he kept spinning but the wheel did not bring its normal comfort. He could spin every last strand of straw in the world into gold and it wouldn't make him forget. The castle now felt hollow and empty as a cave, but he could get through this. He ignored the layer of dust starting to settle throughout the castle and he boarded up the room with the couch that she was so fond of. But he couldn't ignore the silence that plagued the main hall as he sat there, spinning. It was too quiet. There was no humming. She always used to hum while she worked. He'd noticed, but perhaps she knew that. The silence weighed him down, pulled at his heart. It was just too quiet in here.

_Life can be lived_

_Life can be loved_

_Alone._

_Lyrics from _**"Learn to be Lonely"** _from "The Phantom of the Opera" movie soundtrack._


End file.
